Club 80-90 Forums

Trying to sort a short circuit out on my side lights & headlights and had the ignition switched on for a while. My diesel westy usually starts first time but now the engine just turns over and doesn't fire up. Any ideas regarding why? Could it be that I've burned the coil out? Any suggestions would be welcome please .

check your getting 12v at the solenoid on the fuel pump 1st..then..see if your getting 12v on the glow plugs...if the plugs dont have any power then you blew ya fuseable link in the black box

Spiral wrote: My diesel westy usually starts first time but now the engine just turns over and doesn't fire up. Could it be that I've burned the coil out?

Coil, what coil !

ghost123uk wrote:

Spiral wrote: My diesel westy usually starts first time but now the engine just turns over and doesn't fire up. Could it be that I've burned the coil out?

Coil, what coil !

Still on a learning curve when it comes to diesel engines . I called the AA out and he found the problem to be the fusible link inside the black box in the engine bay. Weldore, you were right thanks mate. Are these fusible links readily available or does it mean a visit to a main VW dealer? Unsure where there's a VW dealer near Hertford in Hertfordshire

i would be interested too as mine is made up of fuse wire...i think...could be mig wire for all i know

also...and im no expert but wouldnt it cut off after so many secs of being on? there should be something or the plugs would be live all the time ...need more of an experts opinion here me thinks.

Durite strip fuses:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DURITE-STRIP-LINK ... 7C294%3A50

50amp if I remember correctly.

is that 50 amp continuous????

There you have me - I think so as there doesn't appear to be a 50A blow rating one listed.
according to the "Bentley bible" it is just marked as 50A - usually they are listed as continuous I think.

just ordered it(them..10 in a pck for 3 quid..cant go wrong)...cheers oldiebut goodie

I've also bought some 50 amp strip fuses from oldiebut goodie's ebay link. Thanks mate! Helped me out yet again

Decided to get a couple 50 Amp strip fuses. They both blew .Obviously there's a short somewhere but how do I find it? Where's the most likely place to look? It's one thing after t'other with this bliddy van . Last week the handbrake cable, now this....and a host of other things in the 2 years that I've owned it

Beginning to lose heart now

It's only a sort distance from the fuse to the glow plugs it should be easy to trace, check that the copper linking the plugs hasn't got anything dropped onto it where there is no insulation.

Oldiebut goodie wrote:It's only a sort distance from the fuse to the glow plugs it should be easy to trace, check that the copper linking the plugs hasn't got anything dropped onto it where there is no insulation.

Hi Oldiebut goodie. Thanks for coming to my aid again. I've inspected the wiring to see if there's any bare wiring touching and causing a short but can't seem to find anything visually wrong. All I can observe is that the wiring is a bit oily which occurred before I had an engine rebuild. Originally there was no cover on the black box, but I found the cover in a cupboard inside the van and refitted it. May give the wiring a clean up with paper towel but can't even test the fusible link as I don't have any fuse strips at the moment, having burnt out the 2 that I bought this morning from GSF in Hitchin, Herts. Waiting for the ones I bought on ebay now

Oldiebut goodie wrote:It's only a sort distance from the fuse to the glow plugs it should be easy to trace, check that the copper linking the plugs hasn't got anything dropped onto it where there is no insulation.

Somebody else on here had the same problem (Peet I think) and it turned out to be the copper link Oldie talks about shorting out agains something. This is the copper strip which links all your glow plugs together

It may be worth removing the wire from the first plug to see if it is one of the plugs that is causing the short when you get some more fuses, if it still blows you know that the short is in the wiring between the fuse and glow plugs. I bet gsf fuses were a lot more expensive than the ebay ones.(maybe you should have bought 20 not ten!!!!)